Bob and Joyce Ausberger and Bob Owens have worked tirelessly for decades promoting the importance of the historic Lincoln Highway to Greene County. They have some new-found, professional help. All three were at the Greene County board of supervisors meeting Dec. 22 to hear Penny Brown Huber, executive director of Prairie Rivers of Iowa, discuss plans to develop a corridor management plan for the Lincoln Highway. The plan could eventually bring federal dollars to the county for development of projects along the roadway.
Prairie Rivers of Iowa, formerly the Prairie Rivers RC&D serving Boone, Story, Marshall, Hardin, Hamilton and Webster Counties, is a statewide non-profit organization that works on projects relating to economic development and the environment. It is in the ninth year of a contract with the Iowa Department of Transportation to manage “the intrinsic qualities” of the byways. Brown Huber explained intrinsic qualities as being “archaeological, cultural, or anything that makes the byway unique.”
“The DOT has a huge commitment to the biways of Iowa,” Huber Brown said. There are 11 byways in Iowa, two of which are national Scenic Byways (the Great River Road along the Mississippi River and the Loess Hills Parkway in western Iowa). The Lincoln Highway is the only other possible national byway, she said.
Brown Huber’s involvement is the result of Bob Ausberger working with the DOT to salvage a piece of the current Highway 30 overpass to display in the Lincoln Highway interpretive site very near the overpass in Grand Junction. The overpass is slated for replacement in the next couple of years. The DOT official told Ausberger that exact information of how and where a piece of the overpass would be displayed is needed before plans can be made. “This is a good example of why we need a corridor management plan,” Ausberger said.
The Lincoln Highway already has state Scenic Byway designation, and there is already a corridor management plan for it. That plan is merely an inventory of historic sites, flora and fauna. Prairie Rivers will add future planning to the plan.
Prairie Rivers will in the next 18 months engage 15 communities along the Lincoln Highway. Prairie Rivers will hold at a series of meetings, with the first one in Jefferson in February. The purpose of the meetings is to help communities think of how they can utilize the road to help promote economic development, tourism, and transportation. Archaeology and natural resources will also be considered.
Huber Brown has already spent a year doing what she called “secondary research,” and said the community meetings will be “primary research.”
“We’ll invite elected officials and leaders to the meetings, and we want to invite ‘just people’ who want to come and have a voice,” she said.
The corridor management plan will cover 10 to 15 years. “Once we’ve identified projects that work in different communities for the road, our goal is to help communities and assist in fundraising to make those projects possible. We’ll be able to think how to work with private and public funds to make that happen,” she said.
Prairie Rivers has already applied for a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts to begin a planning process aimed toward placing outdoor art in all of the communities along the byway. “Our vision is that there would be an ‘invisible thread’ where people as they traveled would be looking for the outdoor art,” Huber Brown said.
County supervisor Guy Richardson asked about funding for projects. Huber Brown answered that projects would be in coordination with the DOT, and that there would be assistance in funding. She added that Byway designation puts grant applications further up on point totals when considering funding. “We have time to talk about funding and figure it out. We raise a lot of money at Prairie Rivers for a lot of projects across the state. We’re very good at raising money, but only if it’s things you all want to do. We’re not going to be deciding what needs to happen. We’re looking for guidance,” Huber Brown said.
Greene County has been on Prairie Rivers’ radar. The group is planning a project called “Greening the Lincoln” to work with small businesses and help them promote their businesses and look at conservation measures they can take. Greening the Lincoln will be piloted in Jefferson.
“The Lincoln (Highway) is so important to the construction of the whole nation. It’s the road. Once the corridor management plan is done we want to apply for national status, which would then open up all kinds of federal dollars to communities that don’t exist right now. It may come through the Interior, or different places,” she said.
Watch for further information about planning and the February meeting.
